Democratic Senator: Mass Shootings By White Men Are Terrorism Too!

Dylann Roof.Jerad and Amanda Miller. John Russell Houser. These four people have a lot in common. All four believe strongly in the supremacy of the white race. All four hate Obama. They all cling to their guns like a certain Peanuts character to his security blanket. And, of course, they are all responsible for bloody Fox News-fueled rampages with their trusty firearms.

Roof, for example, massacred people in a historic black church in an effort to ignite a new civil war. Houser, a neo-Nazi who wants to sterilize welfare recipients, shot up a movie theater in a seeming effort to hasten the downfall of the United States government. The Millers, white supremacists who supported Cliven Bundy’s armed insurgency against the United States government, murdered two police officers and an armed “good guy with a gun” who attempted to intervene. All of these attacks fit the FBI’s definition of terrorism:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

Unfortunately, while Republicans fall all over themselves to link every instance of a Muslim committing any crime anywhere for any reason to terrorism, the same can not be said when a good, pure, white Christian unleashes “freedom” on an unsuspecting crowd, and law enforcement is not much better. When the shooter is white, it is extremely unlikely that he will be called a terrorist. A white, male shooter will be called a “lone wolf” with “mental problems” rather than exactly what he is — and one Democratic senator says this needs to end.

“I think most of us recognize that we’re concerned but we also know that we trust the FBI and our security forces to do this right. Since the beginning of the Bush administration when we were attacked, Sept. 11, we’ve not had any major terrorist attack in this country. We’ve had individual crazy people; normally, they look more like me than they look like Middle Easterners. They are generally white males, who have shot up people in movie theaters and schools. Those are terrorist attacks; they’re just different kinds of terrorists.”

“Individual people shouldn’t be fearful, because by and large our government, the federal government — people always talk obviously they don’t trust the feds, whatever — the federal government and local communities have done a pretty good job at keeping us safe,” he added. “Not keeping us safe from crazy gunmen coming into schools and movie theaters sometimes, but certainly keeping us safe from foreigners attacking this country.”

Colin Taylor is the managing editor of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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